Bile Baloo, Chapter four
Chapter four of Bile Baloo. Plot At the bile-farm, Baloo has finally been chosen as a candidate for bile-milking. Aggressively he was placed in a crush cage (a cage specifically designed on bile-farms to be shrunken down to restrain the bear), wrapped in a metal-vest, and positioned to have a catheter (a hallow hospital-tube) thrust into his belly. As Baloo figured, having that tube thrust into him was really agonizing, causing him to cry out. "Easy, I want him alive" Ganshum reprimands, "why sir?" asks a man named Boone, "well for starters that wolf-boy Mowgli will surely come for him, and once we have him in our trap, wham!" Ganshum answers, "I thought he was a fake" Boone remarks, "oh he's no fake, this bear is even one of the caretakers" Ganshum reveals, however what none of them notice is a rat scurrying around picking up scraps, and its ears perk up at Mowgli's name, "Mowgli? I gotta see this" he whispers before sneaking out of a crevice in the wall he often uses. Not far away in the wilderness, Mowgli was still on Baloo's trail, walking on all fours to keep his nose near the ground. It was a good thing no other humans were around to notice, since they find it weird, though some animals do too. He was so focused that he didn't see an incoming greater banded hornet buzz to him and start harassing him. "Hey get off" he complains but the wasp kept well out of reach and was not making any move to sting him, in fact it then stops abruptly and hovers right in front him, then spoke, "you Mowgli?" it suddenly asks, "uh yeah, why?" Mowgli responds letting the wasp rest on his finger now that he knew it meant no harm, "a rat said some humans were planning a trap for you" the hornet warns much to Mowgli's surprise, "must be those poachers who kidnapped Baloo" he deduced, "well the rat said it was taking place at a bile bear farm" the wasp relays, "you know where it is?" Mowgli gasps, "it's just a few minutes straight ahead, but seriously: be careful though, from what the rat said, these humans seem very intent on destroying you" the wasp answers cautiously, making Mowgli wonder if these humans were some old foes of his, like Buldeo, "thanks for the info" he bids and took off, leaving the wasp behind, "humans, always so moody" it comments before flying away. As for Alex, he was practicing his newly acquired weaponry. Slicing a small tree branch was nothing, but he also found that by thrusting them in and triggering them to open, the splitting blades do extreme damage. "Nice" Rusty gushes thoroughly enjoying those katars, "awesome" Kichi compliments, "I wish I had opposable thumbs, or at least the opposable part" Akru laments looking at his thumbs: yes wolves have thumbs, but they weren't opposable like primate thumbs, "at least you have thumbs at all" Kaa notes jealously, "now we just have to find Baloo, assuming dad hasn't yet" Alex recalls, "yeah, and that's if the bile-farm hasn't been shut down yet either" Bagheera adds when Ferao returns, "hey guys, I have a lead on where Baloo might be" he announces, "really, you think you know here he is?" Lala gasps, "Mowgli's on his way there already: some animals have spread word about a bile-farm, so that's the good news" Ferao notifies, "I'm getting the feeling there's a bad news too isn't there?" Sandah voiced making others wonder if there was, "unfortunately yes: the humans at the farm, seem like they're anticipating Mowgli's arrival, they said they have a trap waiting" Ferao admits sparking worry, "oh no" Grey gasps, "Phaona, Vermillion, what should we do?" Maki asks the two alpha wolves, who look at Alex and see the anxiety in him, "I know Mowgli's just trying to keep us safe, but I doubt he can do this alone, who's with me?" Vermillion announced and the usual players step forth, "I'm in" Sura proclaims, "I'm in too" Chil adds, "all aboard" Virgil said to Alex and lets him onboard, "lead the way Ferao" Hathi orders and the woodpecker flies off, Grey however was refuted to tag along, "not you Grey" Maki admonishes, "what, then why are my cousins allowed?" Grey complains, "because we're old enough to" Marigold brags and left, "Bacchus watch him" Maki advised Bacchus who nods, "understood" he abides, "should we tell Alex's mom?" Phaona wonders, "eh that's easier said than done when you're an animal and lacking a translator" Oo reminds as they watch the gang head out. At the bile-farm, Baloo was still in the process of being milked. Nearby Carth was being set up for it too. "Where's your jungle-boy now?" he taunts, earning a growl from Baloo despite his pain. What none of them know is Mowgli has arrived, and being guided by the rat who calls himself Chikai. The two snuck in through a window and were walking overhead on the support-beams. Mowgli however couldn't help but gaze at all the milked bears: it was hard to stomach seeing all these poor bears being used like a factory assembly-line, the bears look deathly ill: some were hairless, some covered with scars, and some that look like they were having internal-problems. Some bears even appear to hurt themselves on purpose, as if trying to commit suicide. All in all it made him come close to tears. "Hey Mowgli?" Chikai whispers snapping Mowgli out of it, "lets focus on stopping this place once and for all, then you can cry for them" the rat advised and Mowgli nods when a hissing sound was heard and looking behind him saw a reticulated python, who lunges mouth open at the man-cub, who athletically leaps and swings around the beam before landing further away, but his cover was nonetheless blown as the commotion attracted the attention of both the humans and the bears, "Mowgli!?" Baloo gasps, "that's the wolf-boy?" Carth exclaims though he was still skeptical, Mowgli meanwhile was concentrating on evading the python, he could tell this wasn't Kaa due to the colors and other features, then noticed a normal-colored leopard join in from behind, flipping over the cat with ease and drawing out his knife, when the snake attacks again he slashes at her, causing her to almost fall but she regains her footing, however Mowgli failed to notice a third assailant behind him, but Baloo did, "Mowgli behind you!" he yells and Mowgli heard it, turning he comes face-to-face with Daghishat, but wasn't fast enough to avoid a slap from the bear's left-paw, knocking Mowgli down to the floor, and while this would've been certainly deadly to a normal human, Mowgli was affected but alive: his animal-upbringing made him much sturdier than your average human, even so he still felt pain and struggled to get up, only to be pinned down by something hairy with cat growls, and looking up found a tiger keeping him down, "Shere Khan!?" he exclaims, "no, I'm Henith, Shere Khan's cousin" he corrects, which shocked Mowgli more, along with the arrival of his fellow man-eaters, "who are you animals?" he asks, "call us The Man-Eater Gang" Kalayavan introduces when Ganshum arrives, "well look who it is?" he taunts, much to Mowgli's surprise, "Ganshum? I should have known" he growls, clearly remembering him, "glad you remember" Ganshum teases, "I take it Buldeo started this as a form of revenge?" Mowgli surmised, "you're half-right, but it was I who started it, grandpa unfortunately passed away a few years ago" Ganshum replies, stunning Mowgli on Buldeo's passing, "oh, okay" he stutters, unsure if he should give his condolences or not, "save your pity, I don't accept it from enemies" Ganshum advises, "kidnapping Baloo and abusing all these bears isn't surprising, but since when to you have human-eating pets?" Mowgli remarks, "they're not technically pets, just associates, sure I was afraid at first, but they seem to like humans like me, and they do us favors by not leaving witnesses alive" Ganshum explains, "you let them kill people!?" Mowgli gasps, "that's right" Ajit answers giggling madly, "I was counting on you showing up, so they can have fun with you, the tiger in particular seems to really hate you" Ganshum notes and Henith emphasizes his opinion on Mowgli by pressing on his back hard, "and with you out of the way, no one will stop us" Ganshum finishes giggling, with the other humans and the man-eaters, "wolf-boy huh?" Carth remarks clearly enjoying this in a way. Stay tuned for Bile Baloo, Chapter five Notes *Chikai is a rat and a minor character from the stories. *Bears subjected to bile-farming often suffer physiological problems: these include sores, skin conditions, ectoparasites, hair loss, bone deformities, injuries, swollen limbs, dental and breathing problems, diarrhea and scarring. Some are mentally affected: some bears mutilate themselves as if killing themselves was better (and there's one account of a mother bear killing her own cub and herself just to escape the torment). 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